Educators at large Portland-area districts accept cuts

Doug Beghtel/The OregonianTracey Shattuck (left), a third-grade teacher at Tigard's Alberta Rider Elementary School, cheers on her class as they play a round of tug of war against another class of third-graders during field day activities and games during the final days of school this week. Elementary school PE and music will be cut in half this fall as part of budget cuts by the Tigard-Tualatin School District.

Despite state budget cuts for schools, about half of Portland area students will experience little change when they return to class this fall, an analysis by The Oregonian has found.

The main reason? Teachers, administrators and school workers will sacrifice their paychecks to protect the classroom.

Leaders of the three biggest metro districts -- Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro -- asked employees to accept pay freezes, furlough days and other concessions. The result is that schools in those districts, plus David Douglas and Lake Oswego, will see little or no increase in class size and few cuts to front-line services.

Betsy Hammond/The OregonianStudents in the Reynolds School District, including high school students (from left) Amy Evans, Morgan Benbrook and Emily Brown, turned out at last week's school board meeting to protest plans to cut about 150 teaching jobs, including many music teachers, this fall.

On the flip side, schools in Gresham-Barlow, Tigard-Tualatin, Reynolds, West Linn-Wilsonville and Oregon City are laying off teachers, cutting elementary music and PE, pumping up class sizes and cutting programs to help struggling students.

Those districts must make painful cuts because they plan to give pay raises or they are betting that lawmakers will give schools a lot less than the $6 billion that the Legislature's budget-writing approved Thursday -- or both.

Teachers in Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego and West Linn-Wilsonville all have agreed to accept a hit to their paychecks to preserve jobs and help students. Most districts also plan to spend some of their savings to spare students.

"I know it's not the optimum situation to have all the employees take a hit, but I would rather see the adults have to than the kids," said Kathy Couch, leader of a Portland parent activist group. "This seems that it will do the least damage to our schools and, in the long run, to the teachers, because they don't lose their jobs."

Portland teachers haven't agreed to forgo cost-of-living raises or take five unpaid furlough days as the superintendent has asked. Still, the Portland School Board is among those slated to pass a budget this month that holds down employee pay to keep class sizes and programs largely intact.

In Tigard-Tualatin and Gresham-Barlow, one of every 10 teaching jobs will be axed, meaning a lot less music and PE and larger class sizes. Teachers in both those districts are set to get raises this fall.

In Gresham's 11 elementary schools, more classes will have 30 students and "a whole lot less (will be) below 25," said Assistant Superintendent Jim Schlachter.

The deepest cuts will take place in Reynolds, where past budget mismanagement compounded by state money woes means nearly one of every four teaching jobs is gone, ending elementary music, reducing counseling and pumping up class sizes by huge margins.

"Already some of my classes are so large it's hard to get help," said Rachel Sandin, who worries how she'll fare as a freshman at Reynolds High with so many teachers laid off.

"Our teachers are so dedicated. ... But with so many (students) in the class, they're not going to be able to get to you," said her friend Kavi Warner, also fresh out of Reynolds Middle School.

Among the metro area's 11 largest school districts, which serve more than 80 percent of students in the three-county area, only Hillsboro plans to shave off school days. Superintendent Mike Scott says four days will be cut from the school year unless lawmakers deliver on their funding pledge.

That's largely true elsewhere in Oregon. Klamath County will cut almost 15 percent of its teaching positions but no school days. Eugene teachers agreed to give up seven days' pay, but students will only lose one day of class. In Salem-Keizer, students will lose just one day -- April 15, tax day, when teachers will take an unpaid leave to send a message about the need for more tax support for schools.

The 11 largest metro districts plan to decrease their spending by 3 percent to 7 percent next year.

Under the plan approved by the Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, Oregon schools would receive $6 billion in the coming biennium. Funding under the state school fund formula would be roughly the same amount per student in the coming school year as it was during the past year after the state made two rounds of cuts.

Districts that plan to cut their spending by 6 percent or more are doing so because they don't trust the state will be able to come up with the full $6 billion, largely because that plan hinges on nearly $800 million in tax increases on corporations and high-income individuals. Opponents say they will circulate petitions to take those tax hikes to state voters, who have a history of rejecting tax increases.

Hillsboro will lose 28 of 1,060 teaching positions and will see class sizes increase by about one student to one teacher for every 27 students.

"Even though one doesn't sound like a lot, it is really an impact that the staff and students feel," Scott said.

Beaverton delays pay raises

Beaverton teachers agreed to delay pay increases until mid-year and take two furlough days because they felt it was more important to save jobs and keep class sizes low.

"We certainly hope there are no layoffs," said Hanna Vaandering, Beaverton Education Association president. "We believe that class size matters. We don't want to lose positions that work with kids."

Doug Beghtel/The OregonianDiana Ayres (left), a physical education teacher, and Amy McKean, a music teacher, participate during field day events at Alberta Rider Elementary School in Tigard on Tuesday to celebrate the end of the school year. Their positions are among 60 teaching jobs eliminated in the Tigard-Tualatin School District.

Kim Fisher doesn't know how large her seventh-grade son's class sizes will be next year at Hazelbrook Middle School in Tualatin. But Charlie Fisher, 12, won't get his first foreign language choice, French, because it is canceled. His band teacher was also laid off. And because the district plans to cut one-tenth of its teaching positions, the average middle school class will have two more students than it did last year.

Federal stimulus payments for special education and programs to help disadvantaged students will help many districts hold on to some of the teachers and instructional coaches they can no longer afford in their general fund budgets. In other instances, districts will add programs, such as full-day kindergarten or free summer school, with that money.

Portland teachers say the district is wrong to ask them to lose five days' pay next year when their salaries remain frozen at 2007-08 levels, they have begun paying part of their health premiums and they worked 10 days without pay six years ago.

Portland is hiring new teachers -- the only metro district to do so in significant numbers this year -- and will start next school year with 99 percent as many teachers as last school year.

Portland teachers demoralized

Rebecca Levison, president of the Portland Association of Teachers, said the district should spend more of its savings and raise class sizes by not hiring teachers to replace those who move or retire. Teachers feel demoralized and unappreciated when the district's primary budget-balancing tactic is to pay them less than they made two years earlier, she said.

"I am hearing from veteran teachers who are saying maybe I need to get out of this profession," she said. "It's just unfair."

Heather Doud doesn't want to look elsewhere.

The Oregon City physical education teacher lost her job because the district eliminated elementary PE, just several years after restoring it. Doud said it was tough to lose a job but it hurt more to see the program fold:

"It's really hard when your program is cut because it feels like people just don't put value into a student's physical health."

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